My Experience With A 24 Hour Juice Fast

Last Saturday, I participated in my first 24 hour juice fast. I do intermittent fasting every day (16 hour no feed period) from about 6-7pm to 11am the next day. I decided to take it a step further this time.

24 Hour Juice Fast Schedule

The night before the juice fast, at about 9:00 PM, I had a burrito bowl to go from Chiptotle. Double meat with veggies and I did cheat a bit and get some cheese. I wanted something pretty satisfying for my final meal. Granted, after doing more reading, perhaps it would have been more beneficial to transition myself to just juice; but I digress.

I had a 6am-6pm shift the following day, so I just didn’t pack anything in the morning. I knew the majority of my day would be spent sitting in my cubicle, and frankly, when I get bored – I sometimes eat. So I simply eliminated any chance of that – no cash for a vending machine snack, and no food.

As soon as I got to work, I started drinking water. Anytime I was hungry, I just filled up my Gatorade bottle with more H20 and continued on. Finally, at about 9am, I went to the grocery store to buy juice. Granted, the store bought juice isn’t as good for a 24 hour juice fast as making it yourself, but I don’t have a juicer. It seemed better than nothing. I drank about 16oz when I got back to the office, and stuck it in the fridge.

24 Hour Juice Fasting

24 Hour Juice Fast – The Hard Points

At my normal lunchtime – 1pm — I started to feel the hunger pains coming on. So I went and had another small coffee cup (~8oz) and felt fine afterwards. I continued drinking water throughout the rest of the day, and had another glass or two of juice during it, as well. I will admit, I did feel slightly light-headed and tired. I also have to admit that it very likely could have been due to the strain and fatigue that comes from waking up at 5am on a Saturday and staring at a monitor from the time you wake up to the present moment. In the future, I would probably try to do a 24 hour juice fast on a shorter shift (9am-6pm) day.

By the end of the day, I was still feeling good. I got home about 6:30, and continue drinking water – as I forgot the bottle of juice in the fridge at work. At about 9:00pm, I had a leftover turkey burger and a chicken breast with some noodles. Post juice fast, it was one of the most satisfying meals I have ever experienced.

24 Hour Juice Fast – Conclusion

First and foremost, it was nowhere near as hard as I thought it would be. I will admit though, I do well with fasting. When I lost 80 pounds in high school, I did it by accidentally doing intermittent fasting and skipping breakfast every day – though I had no idea what intermittent fasting was at the time. Nowadays, I do well with it because I know exactly when I’m allowed, or not allowed, to eat. Because I know that *during* my feeding periods, I like to eat. I’ve got decent self restraint, but if you put pizza or BBQ in front of me, I have no chance. Knowing ahead of time when I can or can’t eat is the best way I have to regulate.

In conclusion, everybody should definitely try it out. I am going to try to do it once a week, and I may even try the next one solely on water as opposed to doing the juice. I’ve also realized the need to invest in a good juicer, so it’s time to pony up the cash and just buy one. It’s one of those things I’ve been procrastinating a lot on.

I felt great the day after doing it. If you’re looking to shed some weight or just want a quick cleanse, you could do a lot worse than a 24 hour juice fast.

If you want a good juicer, I would recommend the Omega J8004 juicer. It’s a single auger as opposed to centrifugal, so it’s better at juicing leafy greens(the main point of juicing) and citrus, and you just get more juice out of everything. I personally love it since it’s easy to assemble and clean. The only problem is that the hole you feed food into it is small so depending on how much you’re making you spend 10-30 minutes juicing.

Whatever you get, juicing is amazing. It’s like a mega healthy version of coffee.